eminently a Boston proper question, and not an East Boston question. True, the people of East Boston are interested in it; but they are interested in it to the extent of 30,000, while the city proper is interested to the extent of 200,000 to-day, and, in the immediate future, to the extent of 500,000.

Now, gentlemen, these ferries have already been purchased; they are owned by the city; the wharves are owned by the city; the drops and slips, and everything connected with the ferries, is owned by the city; and the only question is whether they shall be run free, or whether a tax shall be laid upon them. Well, gentlemen, so is every single street laid out in Boston owned by the city; and you might just as well undertake to discuss whether it was feasible to erect a toll-gate on every avenue that leads out of Boston, as to undertake to discuss the feasibility and propriety of imposing a toll upon this avenue. It is one of the avenues of the city. It is true that it is across a navigable stream; but being one of the avenues of the city, and being the means of communication between thirty thousand people on that side and two hundred thousand on this side, it is just as much a highway as any other in the city; and there is the same obligation on the part of the city to maintain that as a highway, as there is to maintain the other highways within her limits.

But it is said, in discussing this matter of the ferries, "Oh, there was a very large expense incurred last year some sixty-five thousand dollars for repairing the slips and drops, erecting new buildings, and putting the ferries in order. " We shall show you the reason of this outlay, gentlemen. It was a necessary and perfectly proper expenditure, and will not need to be incurred again this year, nor next, nor for several years to

come.

It is said that great delays have occurred in the passage of teams, and we shall show you how those delays have occurred, and how they can be remedied and will be remedied by remov

ing the tolls. In the first place, there is great delay now in taking the toll; when teams pass through the gate, somebody must go round to take the toll; and although a toll-gatherer may be sent round in advance to collect the toll, the team must wait until the toll is paid, and perhaps some time spent in making change, before it can go on to the boat.

Then another cause of delay is the overloading of teams. It is an object for every teamster to get two loads on his wagon or cart instead of one, because in that way he carries two freights and pays but one toll. That induces overloading, and that overloading injures the boats and the drops, and often causes the teams to stick on the boats, producing delay in teams getting off and on, and this delays the boats in passing to and fro, and causes them to occupy much more time than they otherwise need to occupy.

Another cause of delay is the fact that people crowd upon one ferry to the neglect of the other. Although Central square, which is the centre of travel and the centre of business in East Boston, is actually nearer city hall by the new ferry than the old, people have become so habituated to coming over the old ferry that they go to it naturally, without thinking whether it is shorter or not, thus causing great delay at the old ferry, when by a proper division of the travel, a crowd would be avoided, and there would be no difficulty. We shall show you that the new ferry can easily carry one-half more passengers and teams than it now does, without any crowding, delay, or difficulty.

We shall show you that one cause of the great delays which have occurred in times past, has been done away with by the Grand Junction Railroad. Formerly, a large quantity of ship timber was brought in from the country upon the cars, and then taken upon four-wheeled trucks and carted upon the ferries, making very cumbrous teams, very destructive to the boats, and causing great delay in getting on and off. That difficulty has

been obviated by the Grand Junction Railroad, which takes all that description of freight. And not only that, but all the freight which comes from the West in bulk, now goes entirely round the city by railroad, so that the ferries are now greatly relieved from the travel that formerly obstructed them.

In the next place, we shall show you that the estimates for this year are ample for the purpose of running these ferries, and that the present equipment, with the new boat to be built this year, will be sufficient for the present and prospective wants of the community for the next five years. We shall show you,

not by mere guess-work, but by men who are competent to judge, from having had experience in these matters; that the cost of running the ferries can be diminished by abolishing the collection of tolls. In the first place, you can save the wages of a number of men who are now engaged in collecting the tolls; and there are several other expenses which can be saved, so as to reduce very largely the expense of running the ferries in that respect. Then we shall show you that the difficulty which is now caused by the overloading of teams will be removed; because when the tolls are abolished, the motive to the overloading of teams will no longer exist; the inducement to carry two loads instead of one, ends, because they go free.

We shall show you by statistics, that the Fulton-street Ferry, between New York and Brooklyn, which is the ferry of ferries, the largest ferry in the world, between the great city of New York, with its 927,000 population, and the city of Brooklyn, with its population of nearly 400,000, with four boats, carries 50,000 passengers each way per day, together with all the teams. As I have said, we shall show you that the present equipment of the ferries, with the new boat that is to be built this year, will be amply sufficient to carry all the travel that now passes between Boston and East Boston; and not only that, but all the travel that will

be likely to pass between the two sections of the city in consequence of taking off the tolls. We do not doubt that freeing the ferries will increase the amount of travel; we hope and expect that it will; and just in proportion as it increases the amount of travel, will it increase the prosperity of the city of Boston, as well as that portion embraced within Ward One.

I proceed, in the next place, to show that the city can afford to abolish the tolls on the ferries, and that they will not thereby increase the city debt. Now, I wish to show right here, gentlemen, for this is an important point in the consideration of this case, that the expenditures of the city of Boston during the last three years have been of an extraordinary character; have been unusually, unprecedentedly large, such as never were incurred before, and never can be, with any judicious management, in the future; and that these necessary, inevitable expenses that have been incurred, have been provided for, also. They were necessary because of the insular position of the city of Boston. Bear in mind, gentlemen, that we began here with about six hundred acres, upon three mountains, with cow-paths all around those mountains, as best we could make them, with no expectation that Boston would be anything more than a good-sized country village. But she has grown with the years and with the centuries, until it was found that she must burst the shell in which she had been confined, and enlarge her facilities for business, and she has spent more money first and last to get land to build a city upon, than the city of Chicago need to have spent for half of her streets. That is the reason why Boston has had to incur this great expense. She did it on account of her position. She was obliged, as I said, to burst the bonds in which she was confined, if she wished to do any business at all.

Now let me call your attention to the last page of the Auditor's Exhibit for the month of April. On that last page is a resumé of the loans effected during the last three years; and I wish to read to you some of the prominent ones, for the purpose

of calling your attention, on this part of the case, to the reason why such outlays have been made in the city of Boston, which have caused such a hue and cry in regard to our taxation. Look at it for a moment. Here they all are on one page (City Doc. No. 25, 1871, p. 9), and all within three years, extraordinary outlays to the amount of twelve millions of dollars:

Now, is there a tax-payer in the city of Boston who will say that these are ordinary expenses, or who will say that these im provements should not have been made? Is there a man in this hall, or in this city, who, standing at the head of Hanover street, and looking down that broad avenue, could wish that street back to its twenty-feet width? No, sir, there is not a man in the city of Boston who would wish that that improvement had not been made. Is there a man who will stand at the corner of Boylston street, and look up Tremont street, and say